Hugh: So, we are going to do a second interview now and change the topics up a little bit. We are going to be talking about society, unification and peace. The last interview was about some of the problem so we’re gonna hopefully get to some of the solutions in this conversation.

Hildegard: Yes, and we seem to have the perfect magazine at hand called ‘Messiah Herald: Become the Master of Your Own Being’ and maybe I was jumping the gun a little bit half an hour ago but that, I think, really, is the hot topic today. Steve, talk to us about the magazine and the purpose behind it.

Steve: So, this is a monthly magazine that we issue and it is actually being spread all over the world now. And the beauty of it is because His Holiness Gohar Shahi has made spirituality accessible to everybody in this world. We see the increase in the material world, upgrades in technologies, this is an upgrade in spirituality. It makes it accessible to everybody. There is even a step in this month’s one where people can just download this from MessiahHerald.com or get it from the guise here or come to any one of our places and get this.

Page 12 has an actual step-by-step guide, how you can reawaken your heart. It is as simple as that. A 3 step guide that anybody can do. Doesn’t matter what religion or what faith you are. We have seen in the history that people have had to go away on missions, they have had to go sit around gurus, it is just not acceptable now. It is not possible that people can do this. All I heard of spirituality before is like the George Harrison – [inaudible] – the Beatles; you’ve got money, you’ve got time, you can go off and go to these retreats. It’s just not possible these days. So, His Holiness has beautifully made it accessible for all. I thoroughly recommend this magazine to all the viewers. As you said, it mentions about conquering yourself, self-awareness, knowing yourself to know God.

Hugh: I noticed on the cover of that one it says ‘Is the Promised Messiah Already Here?’

YAG: That is the question.

Hugh: What’s the answer?

YAG: Let’s find out.

Hildegard: Before we go there, if I just may. I understand you have a lot of workshops and you give lectures online. Here on this book it actually says ‘broadcast live, everyday at 10PM UK time’, tell me a little bit about how that works.

Steve: Yeah, 10PM UK time, His Holiness gives us that slot just teaching about love and spirituality. As you saw on Saturday, very up-to-date information, current news, current situations. And He thoroughly welcomes anybody to ask any questions. They can log on and ask questions and they will always be answered.

Hildegard: So, individuals can type into the chat and say ‘here, this is my issue, I would like your opinion’?

Steve: Certainly can and they do everyday.

Hildegard: This is like, really hands on.

Steve: This is what we need. This is a worldwide – we want everybody in the world to know about it so the internet is the perfect vehicle [for it].

Hildegard: Okay, so let’s talk a little bit about the coming of the Messiah. Because many religions have claimed this for thousands of years and they are always those who say nothing happens, or ‘2012 the world will end’, obviously nothing happened. [Inaudible] in the invisible world lots have happened. So, His Holiness, what is your take on the coming of the Messiah?

YAG: Messiah is related to the Jewish religion. It is the Messianic thought; there will be a Messiah. There is a lot of conflict on the word ‘Messiah’ because Christians think Jesus is Messiah and people from Judaism think there is another Messiah. And there was a problem when Jesus was arrested by the Romans, the Jewish scholars complained that Jesus calls himself Messiah, ask him who is he?

So, there is a concept of a Messianic figure in almost every religion. Hindus have this belief that there will a Messiah, a type of saviour, then Muslims have the same belief that there will be a saviour, according to their faith. And then, we have the Sikh community, they also have the same concept. So, this concept of an End Time personality, who, according to every religion will strengthen the religions. If it is a Hindu Messiah he will strengthen the Hindu religion and the followers of Hinduism. And Jewish concept tells us that the Jewish Messiah will acquire the Promised Land for them and strengthen the Jewish community. The Muslims also have the same concept of the End Times saviour.

Hugh: I am wondering, in a sense, if you have a concept of a Messiah – even if it is an alien Messiah, Hildegard –

Hildegard: That’s another discussion altogether.

Hugh: I think it’s the same discussion in respect that if we are expecting a Messiah to come and save us from our plight then, in a sense, we are putting our faith in an external factor versus taking responsibility ourselves for the situation we find ourselves in and doing something about it.

YAG: Actually, I got your point but the thing is it is not people who have concocted this concept of Messiah. If we had made up this story that we need somebody from extra-terrestrial; space, we are in that case putting our faith to external sources. But it is the thought which is coming from religions. Nobody has made up the thought, it is coming from religions. People who believe in religions they have this concept. People who are secular, do not believe in any religions, they are not waiting for any Messiah. So, it is a religious concept.

Hildegard: However, you are non-religious? The Messiah Foundation embraces all religions, correct? So, you are not looking for followers, you are non-religious. So, some people say, ‘Well, they are just preaching another Messiah; with all due respect we don’t need that’. We need somebody that helps us how to do our lives better.

YAG: That’s what we are doing.

Hildegard: So, that is in essence the mission. Where does the Messiah fit in? Are you helping me find the Messiah within myself, is the next question?

YAG: Oh my gosh, if somebody is not feeling well and I go there and give them medicine, and I heal them and everything, but they tell me, ‘Don’t talk about the doctor’, alright let’s not talk about the doctor. But, do you know what does a doctor do? That’s exactly what I am doing: giving you medicine, telling you your ailments, giving you medicine and healing you. So, the job of the Messiah is to spread love, unify the entire human race. And this exactly what we need to do.

Okay, let’s forget about the Messiah, let’s do the job if you want to put it that way. Spreading love.

Hildegard: So, correct me if I am wrong, the Messiah is just giving us a whole new boost of love so it is easier for the individual to transcend – we spoke about hate and anger before, I don’t want to go there anymore – but that is what the Messiah does?

YAG: To be honest with you ‘Messiah’ is just a title. It is the Divine Energy which is coming in the guise of the Messiah. You can say the Divine Manifestation. The manifestation or that Super Man behind the clouds. If he doesn’t want to show us His face, he has taken a guise of somebody called Messiah. But we shouldn’t be concerned about the personality, we should be concerned about our own interest. And our interest is to become enlightened and powerful and to have peace in our heart and all the glory of our persona. That’s all.

Hildegard: So, let’s talk about the personal transformation in those who – I understand you have travelled extensively around the world, you go to conferences, do many interviews, you have your online workshops and discussions. What are some of the experience people have shared who had been activated, had their hearts opened to love?

YAG: What I feel every time I visit a country, some of these people have no knowledge about their [respective] field, and some people, the knowledge they have is dangerous. So, lack of knowledge. They are not properly informed. The discerning knowledge which can put their mind right, the knowledge which can fix their heart, that knowledge is lacking in every field. We are helping people to have the knowledge with which they can enlighten themselves and find who they really are. We are not concerned about Messiah, forget about Messiah. If Messiah comes and he doesn’t benefit me, I am not waiting for such a Messiah. If Messiah comes and he doesn’t benefit my soul, if he doesn’t improve the quality of my life, I shouldn’t be waiting for such a Messiah.

If Messiah just comes for his own personal interest, let him come. I am not bothered. I am only bothered about my personal quest which is exploring myself. Making the quality of my life better and if this is done from any angle, from any source, from any religion or any secular school of thought, or from any person then that person is very close to my heart. Even if that person is not Messiah. We are concerned about the philosophy, the ideology of love and peace not the person who may be dispensing the ideology of love and peace.

Hildegard: Well, as it appears we have been living in the ideology where we are separate from one another and focus on our separateness, rather than our togetherness, our unity, we are one organism.

YAG: It’s time now that we travel from being separate to togetherness. It is time now for unification. Because together we are powerful, divided we are estranged.

Hildegard: I would like to use the analogy of a computer network. The computer network out there is not really helpful to me unless my hard drive finds a way to connect to it, right? So, can you give us a specific example of what you are teaching? Your online courses or when you are doing your talks and travels. What are some of the steps our audience could practise? Like we talk about seeing a doctor, you want to have some idea of what he can do: change your diet, drink more water, whatever the doctor may recommend. Do you have any recommendations?

YAG: Well, what I do is multicultural and multidimensional. There are many problems that I am dealing with at a time. For example, when I speak everyday at 10PM UK time, I am live on Facebook, Periscope and YouTube. So, what happens is, people from all over the world they ask me questions on YouTube Live Chat and I answer these questions. Some of the questions are about their life, some of those questions are about the authenticity of the religions and they ask me which religion is better. They ask me about their religion, what they are doing as a religious person if it’s okay. So, I give them my understanding and references from their books and I tell them whether or not they are right or wrong.

So, in a way I am dealing with different sorts of cases. The nature of these cases is different, everybody is coming from a perspective of life and different religions. But I am happy when their questions are answered and I see a ray of hope on their faces, it satisfies me and I tell myself that I am really making a contribution towards forming a better society in this world.

Hildegard: You mentioned dimensions. What is your take on dimensions? For there are those who say they simultaneously exist on many different dimensional world at once. People who have visions or see elves or tree-creatures or different life forms, or aliens. What is your take on what are dimensions? Because we are so, as you mentioned earlier, stuck on the third dimension. This is what it is all about and some people say no, after a near-death experience we know that consciousness moves on, I don’t really die, the body may die but like if I take off my grey sweater, I continue living.

YAG: You are right. There is no such thing as fuller death. This is a journey. We are here for a specific reason and the body that we are contained in, if you call this death when the body perishes, we can call it death but then again this body is not real you. The real you is your spirit and that spirit does not know death. We are constantly travelling and going through evolution: spiritual evolution, geographical evolution and celestial evolution. And like the dimension that you were talking about. We have 7 souls inside our body and the dimension that you will be more focused on depends on what soul are you aligned with concurrently.

If you are aligned with the soul which rests on the right side of our bosom, it will take us to a different realm. Maybe somebody else is aligned with another soul so his or her dimension will be totally different.

After you have explored all your realities and you have aligned with all your souls, and you have been to all the celestial realms, then comes You: a fuller, dimensional person who knows everything. And then, that person will come to the divine dimension, which is the dimension of God.

Hildegard: So, indeed, there is hope. The worst that can happen people lose their body, terrorism or no terrorism, and we can work on the true self by becoming spiritually more conscious and therefore we can have whatever happens outside ripple, like water off a duck’s back.

YAG: But if you lose your body before your time you will be deprived of obtaining this spiritual enlightenment in the lifetime you are given to [obtain it]. If you die before your time then whatever you were supposed to obtain in this world in that frame of time, you won’t obtain it. So, we must not lose our life, we must not just throw our life away to any reason.

Hildegard: And that is unfortunately very much the case today. When you hear of young people committing suicide, en masse almost, we have such tragic stories here and I know they exist in other places as well. What do you attribute that to? And I know you work with young people, please elaborate a little bit.

YAG: They have many, many different issues. Sometimes, our desires, for example, are good. For example, I don’t have a car and I want to buy a car, this is a desire but if I do buy a car it will improve my life. Okay, that’s good. Let him go have a car. Now, if what you desire is not good for you and it is really dangerous for you then you are in pursuit of that desire, somebody who is honest with you should stop you from there. Right? So, we have many different desires and when the desires are not fulfilled they commit suicide. So, there are different reasons for suicide.

Hildegard: Do you think the religions were designed to educate us on a spiritual path and have they done a good job of it? What’s you opinion on it?

YAG: Religion were designed to help people, but only those who were in the Primordial Time and chose to have a pure life and those who wanted the luxuries of the world, religions are not for them. Number 2- There is not one religion, which was designed by God, to suit everybody in the world. All these religions were designed to cater for the needs of one particular group of people.

For example, Islam was created for the spiritual needs of the people who inhabited the Arabian Peninsula. This is why strict religious laws were implemented; if you are [caught] stealing they chop your hands off. But if you do the same in USA or Canada or UK, this is barbaric. But for them, because of their temperament – people have different temperaments everywhere. So, not even one religion is universal, they are regional.

Hugh: But here we are now and we still have those religions and now with the world getting smaller and people are moving all over the world; different cultures living side-by-side with each other, you know, these religions are beginning to rub up against each other –

YAG: That’s why these religions are creating problems now.

Hugh: Yeah, exactly. So, now to get from here though, because many people feel very strongly about their religions. And you know sometimes I think there is nothing harder than a worldview for people to change. People are so invested at the way they look at the world, right? So, for somebody to shatter that for them it’s very unsettling. That’s what I think causes people to get into a terrorist mindset or to become radicalised. So, here we are in this world. We are trying to get into unification. Certainly, we are trying to get to a place where people can live peacefully alongside one another. How do we do that? How do we overcome this religious mindset that some people have?

YAG: These people who practise religion they practise it very strictly, they become shortsighted. They are like the frog of the well; they do not know what is outside the well. You cannot educate them. Every single person who practises a religion becomes intolerant. That person thinks only he or she is right people of other religions are wrong. There is no time for religion. You cannot change them.

Hugh: One of the things that disturbs me is that the terrorist incidents in Europe where people are starting to become less tolerant – this is my concern, I hope I am wrong actually – but I have seen it here in Toronto too where everybody has become a little bit radicalised. People are saying, you know, we can’t have Muslims in the country. There are actually some people saying that. And not willing to engage in a debate because they feel that engaging in a debate would be fruitless. So, my concern is that instead of people becoming more tolerant or more open to working alongside one another as these incidents happen the people of all cultures, of all backgrounds, start to become isolationists in their thinking; less willing to even think about having a conversation.

YAG: I mean, what is happening right now and the tolerance you are talking about where people are beginning to have less tolerance, I think that is pretty much natural. If I live in my house alone with my children and then we have visitors and they stay there for 2-3 months. One day I will feel that my privacy is being invaded and I will start to feel frustrated. Actually, this is what is happening now in Canada. So many refugees are now coming and you feel that your values and freedom is being put on the stake and your way of life is now being jeopardised, and this integration and a lot of foreigners who are naive to this culture and your religious or secular values are pouring into your country. Perhaps, this is fear which is coming up as intolerance. The government should do something about it. They should only take as many refugees as your nation –

Hugh: I agree, but I don’t know if we can trust the governments to do the right thing. As I said, you know, if we think that the problem is even higher. And sometimes my suspicions, frankly, are that people at the highest levels are really trying to undermine the wellbeing of people, of families, of nations because – I don’t know what the real reason is – they thrive on chaos or misery or whatever it is.

YAG: [Laughs] That’s true. They are not concerned about right or wrong. They are just working on their political agenda. Whatever makes their opposition in politics stronger they will do that. I don’t think they are concerned about right or wrong.

Hugh: So, how do we get to unification from here –

YAG: Total unification is not possible. Unification is only possible among those people who are like minded. Do you understand?

Hildegard: That was going to be my question because you mentioned as we learn spiritually about all of the souls that are inside of us, we have to be willing to look at that. So, who is willing, is it in the makeup of the unique soul the human beings carry? Some of them are already predestined to “wake up”, and other those who are just waking up because they chose not to this lifetime around?

YAG: Not all the souls have this potential of finding love and peace. Not all the souls are equal in nature. Not all the souls are similar in nature. Only the souls which are similar in nature to each other will look for unification. Some people or I should rather say some of the souls are designed to look similar and familiar to each other and some others are totally opposite in nature. Those who are prone to create a chaos and promote hatred they will not understand any other language. They will only understand how to create more hatred and more chaos. So, you cannot talk about unification, love and peace among those people. They are designed to promote hatred.

Hugh: Then what do you do?

YAG: You cannot do anything!

Hugh: Because we are living in the same world as those people, right? Some would argue those are the terrorists, the bad guys, those are the people that maybe the good guys need to go to war with.

YAG: No bad guy will turn into a good guy, no matter what you do.

Hugh: So, what do we do with them?

YAG: We have to take precautions and protections. I am being realistic. I am not telling you stories to make anybody happy. I am telling you something which is very close to reality. Not everybody will love and not everybody will love the idea of promoting love and peace. There are people who are designed to promote hatred and you can never change them.

Hildegard: So, the people who became radicalised, like Steve was saying earlier –

YAG: They were different in nature.

Hildegard: So, their soul is different than somebody who has a desire to live in peace and harmony?

YAG: No soul on earth who has the potential of living with love and peace will or can be radicalised because their nature will not allow it. Only those are at the stake of being radicalised, who, in their nature are already radicalised by God. So, they have been divinely radicalised.

Hildegard: Wow! You are opening a whole new kind of –

YAG: The only person you can blame, and I am sorry to say that, but we are just puppets. The boss is responsible for everything.

Hildegard: However, we are not to – [inaudible] – responsibility then because human beings have known to make transformations. Maybe people haven’t been mass-murderers and haven’t been radicalised yet there are most certainly things that I have done that I am not proud of and then later on I felt better. I think that is human nature, right?

YAG: I think mass-murderers and these terrorists are all the same but they are doing it for a different cause. That’s all I understand.

Hildegard: Your foundation draws those who have a soul that is resonating with unification to begin with or else they wouldn’t even be drawn –

YAG: We are trying to reach everybody but the problem is those who, in nature, are already radicalised, when they ask a question they are already attacking on us; they are swearing at us, to them we are infidels. [They say] ‘What is love? There is no such thing as love in Islam.’ Alright.

Messiah Foundation International loves everybody without prejudice, without reservation of the colour of your skin. We love everybody. We are practically trying to raise awareness of practical love, spirituality, enlightenment. We love everybody and we would love to draw attention of people who do not love to love. We are trying and we know there are only certain people who are prone to love will be drawn to love. Not everybody will be drawn to love. We are striving, [I don’t know] whether or not we are thriving but we are striving.

Hugh: And it’s an ongoing project. So, people can go to the website, of course, and listen to the daily message, daily broadcast. And people can get the information on the website which is www.goharshahi.us. So, thank you everybody for tuning in.

This was so deep – so serious. It honestly gave me a whole new perspective on religion. I was only able to understand the English part, as I am a 22 [year old] male, Bay Area native. But it was really encouraging to know get an insider’s point of view on the real war that’s going on in Iraq – the war on religion. ISIS’ message is so toxic and contradicting. They continue to exclaim “Islam!” but contradict the very idea of that religion. ISIS are killing innocence people, and forcing women to be their sex slaves. ISIS screams out the religion’s name – Islam – that stems from the very idea to never judge a person, as God will have the final judgement on judgement day; a.k.a. The end of your life. It’s an unfortunate thing to have to think about, that your life will come to an end, because we all have to come to a close. It’s an ugly truth, and for someone to wish that upon others are the real evil in the world. It has nothing to do with religion, evil just lingers in their core.

When this comment was shared with Younus AlGohar, he elaborated on the subject.

What ISIS is doing cannot remotely be linked to Islam, to be honest with you.

Let me tell you what a majority of Muslims think about Islam. A majority of Muslims think that the tenets of Islam cannot be modified, changed or updated. Allegedly speaking, in order to be a pure and true Muslim, one must adhere to the philosophy of Islam as it was presented at the time of Prophet Mohammad. However, this is not true.

Islam, like any other religion in the world, needed to go through the process of spiritual evolution. This was due to the fact that in every new age, the way people live their life changes. Circumstances change. What was significant 1400 years ago appears to be insignificant today.

Therefore, there has to be divinely monitored modification. It would be done under supervision of a divine vicegerent – somebody who has been anointed by God to carry out what has been outdated in the fundamental tenets of Islam.

Killing somebody for any reason is strictly prohibited until that person is a criminal and a liability. But then, there are courts who will look into the matter. If the accused person is found to be a criminal, then obviously that criminal has to be punished. In the course of fulfilling the requirement of bringing the criminals to justice, if somebody is awarded capital punishment, that is not an act of tyranny.

However, if some Muslim organisations or Muslims individually assume that some other Muslims or non-Muslims are impure or not obedient to God, they do not have any right to kill anybody.

No court on Earth is permitted by God to punish somebody who doesn’t believe in God or to punish somebody who they think is impure in his practice of Islam.

Crimes against humanity can be dealt with by human beings on Earth. For example, if you kill somebody, human beings have been delegated by God to do justice and bring the criminal to the judiciary system. It is not like somebody is a killer and you on your own want to take the law in your hand and punish the criminal – this is not allowed. It is not permissible under any Islamic judiciary system.

If somebody you think is disobedient to God, again, it is not between you and him. It is between him and God. God is the master of the Day of Judgement. On the Day of Judgement God will decide what he wants to to do with that disobedient person. Maybe he can forgive him, and maybe he will want to punish him. It is entirely up to God.

You as a human being cannot punish people for crimes done against God or religion.

What ISIS is doing to Yazidi women is a brutal act of tyranny and nothing else. Making sex slaves isn to even remotely linked with any interpretation of the Quran and Islam. ISIS ideology is a criminal ideology. That is what it is.

According to the Quran, ‘Killing one innocent human being is equal to killing the entire humanity.’

According to Prophet Mohammad, you cannot even kill an animal. When Prophet Mohammad did not even allow Muslims to kill an animal, how can they kill innocent human beings?

The very act of suicide is strictly prohibited and unlawful in Sharia Law (endorsed by Prophet Mohammad by his custom and practice). When suicide is unlawful and there is a clear prohibition about suicide, how can somebody become a suicide bomber, kill himself and kill other human beings? How can anyone declare this sheer atrocity to be a favourable act of a a true believer (Momin) in the eyes of God?

This is ridiculing the religion of Islam. It has nothing to do with Islam. As far as the original form of Islam is concerned, this is absurd. This is nothing but tyranny and brutality.

Extremism and fanaticism are products of ignorance, intolerance and inferiority complexes. People tend to recognise extremism and fanaticism only on a higher level, with the affiliation of religion. However, we need to find the roots of extremism and fanaticism.

It is more of a behavioural issue than a religious issue.

If someone is an extremist, it is not just about religion. There are extremists in different fields. For example, some people are even extremists about themselves: they think they are the best and they cannot give in to their own self.

Fanaticism is not a theory or a religion. Fanaticism is an ugly behaviour. One’s behaviour changes when they don’t respect others, give them space or consider their rights. It changes when they are only concerned about their rights and themselves; when they become self-centred and impatient, and they cannot take a little pain for others at the time of adversity.

When there are good people in any religion, the religion is operated well by them.

Religion itself does not have legs.It cannot do anything; it is just a set of beliefs.The followers of that religion are the operators of it.When the religions are operated by bad people, they start malfunctioning.

Let’s talk about a household. The entire household is managed by the guardian of the house. The way it is managed depends on how bad or good that person is. The problem is not with any religion; whether it is Christianity, Judaism, Islam or Hinduism, all of them are good — but the people who operate these religions are bad.

This is because there is a prerequisite that one must do before they practise a religion: purification of the inner devil.

Without first attaining inner purification, if one follows any religion, they will [misinterpret it]. They will become intolerant.

When we say intolerance is prevailing the society, this is not due to any religion. This is an issue with the behaviour of human beings.No religion is intolerant; it is the people who are either tolerant or intolerant. It is the people who are either rational and full of sanity, or so irrational that they are almost insane.

For example, if a mad person drives a BMW and runs over a couple of men, we won’t blame BMW. It is not the car [at fault], it is the driver.

Fanaticism and extremism are not products of any religion. Extremism and fanaticism have to do with people. Some people are more patient, tolerant and forgiving than others. Some people are short-sighted and impatient. It is not about the religion that one follows. It is about their own being: how composed or disturbed they are.

If your mind is disturbed, you are disturbed everywhere.

That happens when there are some decisions in life which are difficult for you to make. Due to this indecisive nature, you don’t settle things; so there remains a kind of pressure and stress on you mind, keeping it preoccupied. It kills your sanity. Mental disturbance is something one cannot afford.

In order to please others, it is important that you should be happy. If you are unhappy, you cannot make anybody happy. If you yourself are crying and suffering, how can you please others?

In order to be able to make others happy, constitutionally you should be happy in the first place.

We need to educate people on ethical values to build their character. We need to discuss the psychological aspect of everybody’s lives and how our lives can be improved. When our lives are hell, then everything falls apart. Then, we don’t care about our bad behaviour, ethics or anything else because we are disturbed.

When you want to do weight lifting at the gym, if you cannot even move 50 KG, you won’t try to lift it; you know that you cannot put extra weight on your body. If you do, you’ll hurt yourself.

Similarly, in life, you are carrying a lot of extra luggage that you will not need while you are travelling. Life is nothing but a journey and you must travel light.

Make life easy, my friend. After all, this is only one life that you have.

I do not think fanaticism and extremism are about any religion. You don’t have to follow a religion to be a fanatic or extremist. These days, jihadists and terrorists are not devout Muslims; they don’t even know anything about Islam. They’re drinkers and party animals. More and more people, especially in the Western sphere of the world, are prone to becoming jihadists not because they are inspired by Islamic text or they find the Quran fascinating. Rather, some of these people suffer from narcissistic personality disorder.

I used to live in Manchester some 20 years ago. My neighbour was a strange person; for some reason, he didn’t like my face. There was a blind alley between the two houses; he lived on the left side of and I lived on the right. If I walked on the pavement, he would come out and say, ‘You are trespassing on my property.’ I would say, ‘What? I am walking on the pavement.’ He would reply, ‘Yeah but this pavement is in front of my house so you are trespassing. I am going to call the police.’

This is not about their religion. This is about them. They are crazy, impatient, intolerant and ignorant.

What I have just said is not a wandering thought that has crossed my mind. I am a very keen observer. I read men and their behaviour. I have read many people.

To a degree, every single human being becomes an extremist in certain situations and conditions.

The root cause of extremism is to do with behaviour.

Your behaviour is not your fault; it is carved, nurtured and shaped by good or bad experiences in your life.

When you go through denial, rejection and deprivation; when you are scolded by people for no apparent reason, that is when your behaviour [deteriorates]. Behaviour is all about our reaction to certain things.

For example, someone tried all their life to buy a car but they couldn’t. Then they came to England, struggled for a year or two and then finally bought a car. Now you have to be careful; if you damage the car, no matter how close of a friend you are to them, you will be in trouble. They value the car more than they should because of their struggle.

Suppose you did not eat food for 48 hours. Finally, you are a holding a Big Mac in your hand. Just as you are about to take a bite, someone laughingly takes it away and says, ‘I’ll eat it instead.’ You will behave differently [than you would normally].

Our behaviour is not about how bad or good we are. It is shaped and developed through good and bad experiences in life, and of course the way people behave with us.

We need to look into our lives. We need to see what is wrong and right in our life. What is causing us problems? What is the source of disturbance in our life? What is it that is distracting us from our spiritual journey?

Self-Realisation is God-Realisation

In spirituality, you struggle to become good in this lifetime.You become good not just for yourself, but as an embodiment of God on Earth.

When people come and sit in your company, they feel relaxed without establishing any meditation. They’ll just sit with you and feel peace because you have gotten rid of all your evil traits, all the negativity.

We should sort out our problems in life. If something is causing problems, we should see if we can fix that problem. If you can’t fix it, replace it.

Spirituality is something that alone can make a human out of you.

A religion is like a film in which you are a billionaire and you have a lot of money, big houses, cars and everything. When the movie is shot, you come back to reality.

In religion, you imitate being good. Spirituality will make you good.

When you go to a shopping mall in the United States of America, the salesperson will greet you with a business smile. They know it is a fake smile, but it is part of their business strategy. Similarly, a religion will tell you what you can and cannot do, whether you like it or not. A religion wants performance, like a coach of a team.

In spirituality, it is not about performance. It is about transformation.

If you want to see whether a person has made any progression in spirituality, you need to see if he is a better human being today than he was yesterday.

The first step in spirituality is to know yourself.

Self-realisation is an art that comes from spiritual practice and discipline. It is about coming to know of all your physical, spiritual and carnal aspects. A mentor who has culminated his quest in the said field can guide one towards self-exploration on a spiritual journey.

Too many people don’t know who or what they are. When they do good, they want to publicise it. When they do bad, they don’t want [others] to see it. This attitude has led them to a point where they have lost their identity. They do not know themselves.

It isn’t about your parenthood or sisters and brothers. It is about you.It is about how beneficial or harmful you are to your fellowmen.

This is why the first step towards God-realisation is self-realisation.

If you truly know yourself, don’t seek God. God said in the Koran, ‘I am in you. Why don’t you peep into yourself to know me?’

A religion is aiming at you to please God. In spirituality, you find and explore for your personal, original identity.

So spirituality is self-exploration.

Knowing yourself is not an easy job, otherwise God would not have labelled knowing yourself as knowing God.

In spirituality, you go through self-denial and this is the hardest job. You deny and negate yourself.

If negativity in you is stronger than positivity, the negativity compels you to do bad things. You have to make positivity even more powerful with the help of spirituality. Once the source of evil and negativity, the Carnal Self, gets weaker, then the compelling of Carnal Self will lessen. A time will come when you will realise that nobody is pushing you to do anything wrong.

Ego is such a problem. You’ll be defending the ego, the inner devil, but you’ll think you are defending yourself. This is why it is not easy to know yourself.

Younus AlGohar responds to radical anti-Muslims on Twitter and explains the truth about Islam and how it has been distorted today.

Main points:

– Every religion has a time limit on it, an expiry date. When a certain religion expires, what is happening today under the banner of Islam is exactly what happens. Some people just want to denounce Islam and some other people keep on saying terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. Both are wrong: Islam when it was founded by Prophet Mohammad was not the same Islam as we see today.

– If a religion is not making you holy, that religion is not holy anymore. Today the problems we have in the world are because of these religions after they expired. When religions were founded and the spiritual systems were intact, they were helping people out and responsible for reviving human values in human beings. However, now these religions are bringing the worst out of everybody.

– There was a time when Judaism was the truth. Then there was a time when Christianity was the truth. There was a time when Islam was the truth. When truth separated itself from the religions, these religions became monstrous. We defend the original Islam which did not mean any harm to anybody. We condemn the Islam practised by Wahhabis and ISIS.

– To collect the Quran in the form of a book was never in God’s or Prophet Mohammad’s plan. Therefore many verses in the Quran we have today have already been abrogated by God. The original Quran was revealed onto the heart of Prophet Mohammad; therefore only Prophet Mohammad, the recipient of the Quran, would be notified of any changes. It would not be made public knowledge necessarily. There are two Quran: the Esoteric Quran and the Exoteric Quran. Esoteric Quran has everything to do with God and Prophet Mohammad. This Exoteric Quran has nothing to do with either Prophet Mohammad or God.

– The apocalyptic forecast of Prophet Mohammad regarding the end times has been heavily modified by Wahhabis. The concept of Imam Mehdi has been modified and they have begotten a new theory of hatred. They have given an unreal, false story of the worldwide caliph who will supposedly rule the entire world and turn everybody into Muslims.

Recently there was news of a military coup in Turkey. After a few hours, it was learnt that the coup failed and 3000 army personnel were arrested. 2500 army personnel were killed in an ISIS-style beheading. Everything happened in a weird way which does not suggest to common intelligence that this was a genuine coup attempt.

I raised my voice in favour of the military coup because I was sniffing danger. That danger was that if Turkey did not go under the military control, Turkey would become another ISIS country.

The world leaders made a blunder by supporting democracy in Turkey. A form of democracy which gives rise to extremism, fanaticism should not be applauded by world leaders. Although dictatorship by the military is in no way good, given the circumstances and as a matter of survival, a military coup was urgently needed in Turkey.

However, the government of President Erdagon was supported by world leaders. Now, after the failed coup, he is reshuffling all officials and the departments. Turkey, now under the rule of Erdagon, is going through a very rapid process of Islamisation.

Turkey is not running; Turkey is flying towards Islamisation. Turkey is in the making of a newer, extremist, fanatic, brutal terrorist country.

The Washington Post says ‘Turkey declares a state of emergency for three months.’

The world leaders are going to regret the way they supported democracy in Turkey. They cannot see how this scene was dramatised, how it was planned and who was going to be the beneficiary. By showing people the attempted coup, Erdagon is going to do many things. He is doing many things.

According to the Washington Post, ‘Turkey declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, a move that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said would enable the state to act faster against those who plotted a failed coup.

‘In a late-night televised address, Erdogan, who has been carrying out a large-scale purge of the country’s institutions, sought to reassure the country that the measure — which would be in force for three months — will protect democratic freedoms. But the move consolidates more power in the president’s hands, allowing him to rule by decree.

‘The United States and Europe have urged Turkey to follow the rule of law and maintain democratic order in the wake of the attempted power grab that saw a renegade part of the armed forces hijack aircraft and attack key military and government buildings last week. Turkey’s countermeasures have affected more than 50,000 people — judges, civil servants, military, police and others — as the country’s leaders seek to root out opponents and perceived internal dissent.’

The West — including United Kingdom, United States of America and Canada — is now urging Turkey to stop doing it or they will cancel its NATO membership.

However, now Turkey is on the way to becoming another Syria. This is alarming.

Erdagon is talking about Islam and he lives in a palace owned by him, worth £500 million. The world leaders should have supported the military coup. If they had done this, they would have nipped the devil in the bud.

There have been, more or less, 124 000 prophets sent by God, out of which five were messengers. These five messengers were those upon whose hearts God revealed knowledge. They established religions. Every messenger out of these five were given two types of knowledge: knowledge of the exterior (outer dimension of the religion) and knowledge of the interior (inner dimension of the religion).

The inner dimension of the religion was responsible for connecting people to God, whereas the exterior knowledge was about to how to live your life in perfect harmony and social balance. There were certain provisions: certain acts were declared to be permissible and certain acts were not permitted. If somebody acted on those that were not permitted, they would be called a sinner.

As long as people who followed a religion practised both dimensions of the religion, they were devout religious people and they were connected with God.

At the same time, they observed their religion with its true spirit. They did not go beyond the limits set by God.

Once the religion was deprived of the interior knowledge, people got scattered into different groups and denominations.

At the time of Prophet Mohammad, when Prophet Mohammad was talking about sectarianism within Islam, he mentioned that there were 72 different sects in Judaism. then Prophet Mohammad said that in his nation, there would be 73 sects. Prophet Mohammad explained, ‘Only one group will be rightly guided. Those who will be rightly guided are those who would strictly adhere to my inner and outer custom.’

So there have been fanatic and extremist elements in every religion, including Hinduism and Christianity. When the Ottoman Empire was crushed and the control of Spain was gained by the Christian hierarchy, the Christian extremists were on their peak. There was an element of extremism and fanaticism in Christianity also.

Then, in Judaism, there had been 72 different sects. The mainstream Jews, unfortunately, did not adhere themselves to the inner dimension of the religion. The inner dimension of Islam is Sufism; in a similar way, in Judaism, Sufis are known as Kabbalists.

The knowledge of the inner in Judaism is called Kabbalah. Those who follow Kabbalah are very nice, good people. They love everybody.

In Islam, Sufis love everybody, they don’t hate anybody. Then again, we have fanatics and extremists in Islam, called Wahhabis. In a similar way, there extremists in Judaism. They do not follow Kabbalah; rather, they hate those Jews who follow Kabbalah. Wahhabis do not follow Sufism; they are those who hate Sufis.

Zionists are those who, within Judaism, are extremists and fanatics. They want an upper hand financially, politically and in any other way they might have conceived themselves. Zionists are not true Jews; they are like Wahhabis.

Zionists, Wahhabis and Protestants are like brothers and sisters to each other, if they are not cousins.

I do not know [about this], but I heard from somebody that some groups among Jews say that they are still waiting for the Promised Land to be given to them. When it is said to them, ‘Israel is your country, is it not the land you were promised?’ They say, ‘It is ruled by Zionists.’ So, mainstream Jews who follow Kabbalah are not welcome in Israel.

Those who follow Kabbalah, the inner dimension of Judaism, are not welcome in that state. So, most of the people politically involved there are Zionists, not Jews.

I read news that 50 000 Jews blocked Manhattan in New York City, and they were protesting against Israel. Can we safely that representation of Jews will come from Israel? Do you think Israel legitimately represents mainstream Jews who follow Kabbalah, or is it more or less a Zionist country?

I have seen Jews who were protesting against Israel, against killing of Palestinian Muslims.

I spent some time in Manchester with Jews, who are wonderful people. There is nothing wrong with them. The real Jews do not hate anybody. The only thing that I observed among the Jews who lived in Manchester was that that they are very strict in their sacred law, more strict than Muslims are. However, no matter how strict they were in their sacred law, they were not fanatics. They didn’t say, ‘We are the only children of God and the rest should be killed.’ They didn’t want to hurt or harm anybody.

Therefore, whenever I say anything in favour of Judaism, I mean to praise people who follow Kabbalah. They are wonderful people.

Those who create mischief, no matter what religion they come from, they are mischief. Love and peace cannot befriend people who represent mischief.

Those who want love of God and global peace can be from any religion and may represent any religion. We extend our friendship, love and everything we have to them. They are our brothers and fellow human beings.

However, those who are fanatics, whether they are extremists in Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism or Islam, we cannot befriend them.

When you do not know the reality, you throw yourself to assumptions and different theories. This world was created by God and is subjected to God’s plan. Whether you like it or not, nothing will change. In the West especially, a lot of people have become atheists. Most people in England don’t believe in God. However, there are people in every society who believe in God and religions.

People who believe in God and religions are the ones who understand the fact that there is a plan from God: how God wants to run the world, how things will progress in the future and then how this world will come to an end. People who believe in God and religions are the ones who exactly know what a [particular occurrence] could mean in the light of God’s plan.

In the Bible, there is a chapter called Matthew, which is full of signs of the end times. In Islam, there are numerous Traditions of the Prophet Mohammad that discuss the events which will take place before the end times.

People who closely monitor what is happening the world and at the same time, they study their celestial book, they are the ones who are able to see whether or not the end times are coming.

One of the main features of the end times is that humanity is supposed to distance itself from God. Religions are to become corrupted; morality and ethical values will no more be seen. This world, as it is has been designed by God, is to become a place where lawlessness, distortion, tyranny, corruption, hatred, religious crimes and crimes against humanity will prevail.

The most prominent feature of the end times is the Second Coming of Lord Jesus Christ and then in many religions, a concept of the Awaited One has been propagated.

The main feature of the end times is destruction of religions.

Religions were supposed to lose their value and their ability to make its followers holy. We have so many religions being practised in the world today. However, it is evident that no religion, including Islam, is making its followers holy.

If you are a religious person, most likely, you will be considered by people to be holy. However, it is significantly ironical that the most unholy people you will find today are religious people.

Either you will find the most unholy people on Earth in a mosque, church or temple. People who were supposed to be God-fearing have no fear of God. They give lectures on God’s fear; they instil fear of God in hearts of others, but they think they have been exempted from the luxury of God’s fear. They become so careless and heedless of the religious chapters of the celestial book they are teaching others. They teach others, but they don’t understand. Maybe, in the back of their mind, they think this [does not apply to] them.

The problem is: every single religion that you will see being practised today has become null and void of spirituality.

According to the fundamental principles of a religion, one needs to adopt a religion in order to reach God. For example, when you want to travel, you do so by car, bus, train or airplane. These different types of vehicles are the means of transportation. In a similar way, a religion is like a vehicle.

If you hear somebody saying, ‘I have to catch a flight’, instantly, you will ask that person, ‘Are you going somewhere?’ If he says, ‘No,’ you will ask, ‘Then why are you catching a flight?’ It sounds absurd if they say, ‘I am just catching a flight. It doesn’t mean I am going anywhere.’

However, if you ask anybody today, ‘Why do you practise Islam?’ Trust me: they don’t have any answer. They practise Islam as an inherited habit.

Practice and quality of practice both are inherited from our parents, our forefathers.

For example, if the parents are fasting during Ramadan, and in the daytime, they are watching an Indian movie, the children will get the impression that watching a movie is not a bad thing, because their parents are doing it.

Sometimes, you inherit some of the things from your parents. Sometimes, you adopt certain things from the company your keep.

Every single political party has an agenda, a manifesto. In England, we have the Labour Party, and the Conservative Party (Tories). The Labour Party’s policies support the middle class and poor people. Conservatives don’t care about poor people or the middle class. They only cater for the needs of the rich elite. The Conservative Party is making huge cuts on the NHS, policing, disability allowances and income support. If you know very well what Conservatives are doing and you are claiming benefits, you won’t ever join the Conservatives because you know what that party stands for. You will support a party which will address your issues.

In a similar way, If I ask you, ‘Why are you a Muslim and not a Christian?’ You won’t have an answer.

I am a Goharian. If you ask me why I am a Goharian and not a Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Jew, I can answer you.

Being a Goharian, I enjoy the bounty of my Lord, the divine protection. My life is now full of bliss: spiritual bliss, economical bliss. I have no worries of my future. My heart is set on peace.

I don’t harm, hurt or deceive people. I do not hate anybody for any reason, whether you are Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu or Sikh. Whether the colour of your skin is white, brown, pinkish, blue, etc. I don’t care. I respect everybody. I respect all religions, all men, all women and all children, whether they respect me or disrespect me. You will not find a person of this character either in Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or Judaism. This is why I am Goharian.

Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi teaches us to respect humanity, not to hate anybody and to love everybody. Jesus said the same thing. Jesus said, ‘Love your neighbour like you love yourself. Feed your neighbour like you feed yourself,’ but people don’t do that. Why is it that Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi says the same things that Jesus said and the followers of Lord Ra Riaz practically believe in what Lord Ra Riaz says, but the teachings of Lord Jesus Christ do not manifest in the characters [of Christians]? We are able to practise this and we are able to witness Lord Ra Riaz’s doctrine of love in our character because we have been given a spiritual methodology. Hearts have been initiated. We are journeying on spiritual embarkment. Whereas [others] only have theory; [they] do not have spiritual methodology.

No religion is bad, but people do not know how to practise a religion. All religions were good when they were established by their respective prophets and messengers.

The corruption in the hearts of human beings has corrupted the religions.

Someone can become dirty by anything: mud, dust – or maybe if it every humid and hot, they will sweat. To clean themselves, they will take a shower. In Islam, Prophet Mohammad declared cleanliness to be half of one’s religion; to love God is the complete religion.

How the world looks at these atrocities and untoward incidents of terrorism is different. They do not get to the bottom of the truth. They think this problem is very temporal. However, I want to tell you that this is part of God’s plan.

I know atheists will hate me for saying this and some others will jump to conclusions like, ‘You are not sorry for what is happening.’ That is not what I am saying. For example, nobody wants to die, but if I say, ‘It is all written by God,’ am I offending you, me or God? When you die, wherever you die, it comes from God. Everybody has the right to live – but when you say that, you are completely ignoring the fundamental aspect of your presence on Earth, which is that you are here for a brief period of time. You are here for your test.

All these people who are dying in these countries, and all these people who are killing, are useless in the eyes of God. For example, most of the Syrian refugees are economic migrants. I went to Canada and someone told me that Syrian refugees who have now been given asylum in Canada are complaining to the government, ‘You are not taking care of us. We were better off living in camps.’ Justin Trudeau went to the airport to welcome these refugees. All MFI members who came to Canada from India [as refugees, due to them being persecuted in Pakistan for their beliefs], their air tickets were bought by an agency and they were bound to pay back the expenses. Whatever amount of money was spent on them, they were required to pay back to the government – and they did. However, these refugees who are coming now from Syria are not paying back anything. There is no burden of debt on them. They’re given all sorts of facilities: medical, residential, etc. and still they’re so ungrateful.

When they went to Germany, they started raping women. People of Germany did not like the idea of accepting any refugees, but when Angela Merkel announced it, they remained quiet. I still remember seeing images in newspapers and social media that they were coming and people were standing, welcoming them in Germany and giving them water and food. When they finally started living in Germany, they started raping their women. The same thing happened in Sweden; they raped so many women in Sweden. The soft corner that they had developed in the hearts of Swedish and German people, by exposing their ugly character, they have lost it. Nobody wants to show compassion to such idiots.

They’re rapists. What’s the difference between them and ISIS? They’re not escaping ISIS. They just want to come to Europe. This ISIS problem has not started now. It has been there for quite a few years now. Why are they migrating now? They have been living there with all those problems. We should definitely say a big no to all these Syrian refugees. You only blame yourself if you accept them and tomorrow something goes wrong.

Younus AlGohar explains how he embarked on the spiritual path under Lord Ra Riaz’s auspicious mentorship.

Main points:

– An overwhelming majority of people believe in a religion just because they inherited those beliefs, not because they have a purpose in mind. When you want to buy a television, you compare prices and brands before committing to one product. Why not take this approach to religion?

– Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi regarding those who came to Him wishing to obtain God’s love, said, ‘I’ll initiate their hearts. If God accepts them, I vow to be with them as a guiding light until they reach their destination.’

– If you want to have access to the realm of angels, you need to enlighten and awaken the corresponding soul inside your body.

– The heart can act like a divine telephone between man and God. Lord Ra Riaz said, ‘When you become a friend of God and you are in trouble, God will instantly know that you are in trouble. When you’re in trouble, the voice of your heart has a hint of sadness when it reaches God. God then commands angels to help you before you raise hands in prayer.

– The only difference between good and bad, God and the Devil, people of Imam Mehdi and people of Dajjal (Antichrist) – is spiritual knowledge. If you have knowledge of the exterior without the knowledge of interior, you will definitely be corrupted in your mind and heart.

– The only thing that will protect your faith is spirituality. Without it, it doesn’t make a difference whether you are a Shia, Sunni or Wahhabi.

An analysis of the sign on the Moon manifested by God to announce the arrival of the Awaited One.

Main points:
– Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi’s image is prominent on the Moon. It is a divine sign. It is not humanly possible to create such a large image on the Moon’s surface. If you can see the Moon, you can see the image on it.

– The image of Lord Ra Riaz has always been present in the Moon. It has now become prominent. In other words, there was a veil over the Moon that was lifted. The image on the Moon becoming prominent is referred to in the Quran as ‘Shaq ul Qamar’.

– Quran [41:53]: ‘In the future, I will show them my signs in the horizons and within themselves.’ He said he would show the signs, not create them. God’s signs are as ancient as God himself. Manifestation of these images doesn’t mean they’re created in the era they’re being manifested in.

– Per traditions of Prophet Mohammad, he asked his nation to look to the Moon, pray to God and ask the Moon to be protector of their faith. The Moon has endorsement of Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi’s human profile. When you ask the Moon to be protector of your faith, you are actually asking Imam Mehdi’s image.

– Hindu temples had idols made of gold and silver. Muslims would attack them. Mahmud of Ghazni, the thief, made 16 unsuccessful attacks on India. the reason he failed was because a dedicated worshipper would sit in Somnath Temple (Temple of the Moon God). That worshipper loved an idol which was made based on the image on the Moon; he loved it so much that it was imprinted on his heart. Only when he was killed was Ghazni successful in his attacks.

– Prophet Mohammad had similar beliefs about the Moon as Hindus – and this does not contradict the concept of Tauheed (God’s Oneness). The knowledge Prophet Mohammad gave to people was of how to establish oneness of God within yourself and remove non-Godly elements from your being. The problem with Wahhabi doctrine of Tauheed is that they heard Prophet Mohammad talking about Tauheed, but they didn’t receive the knowledge of Tauheed.

Younus AlGohar establishes how Islam is dead without spiritual knowledge and how essential spiritual knowledge is. He also explains why and how Sharia is mischief without spirituality.

Main points:

In Islam and Judaism, those who talked about spirituality were always condemned and disapproved of by the mainstream religion. Sufism (spirituality) had been the centre of Islamic teachings until 200 years ago. Wahhabis were the pioneers of rejecting Sufism, calling it unIslamic – although there have been Sufis all over the world.

Religion comprises of two vital types of knowledge. Spirituality is the life of every religion; the exterior aspect isn’t given as much importance. Islam is alive only when spirituality is practised. If spirituality is separated from it, it is dead no matter how many people perform rituals. Radicalisation is the result of Sharia being practised without the spiritual knowledge. Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi said, ‘Islamic scholarship, without the knowledge of spirituality, is a greater mischief.’

Quran says that worshippers who are naive to the truth of worship are destructed. Their worship is not reaching God; rather, they’re showing off. It doesn’t mean physical destruction, but destruction of faith and character. What does showing off mean? Their worship will not reach God, but people think they are dedicated worshippers. When this happens, people’s respect for such a person boosts their ego, destroying them spiritually. Such a person becomes a live threat to moral values in society. That’s how Sharia becomes mischief.

Truth of worship would have entered your heart only if you practised spirituality. Spirituality enlightens hearts, manifesting truth on the screen of the heart. Since people don’t practise spirituality among Muslims, therefore their Salat (worship) is futile, useless and not recognised by God.

Sharia is only good with spirituality which will control your heart and you won’t make wrong decisions. Spirituality makes you compassionate. Without spirituality, your heart will be as hard as stone and with spirituality, the heart will be soft. You will help all regardless of religion. However, Sharia without spirituality (now or even at the time of Prophet Mohammad), was, is and will remain to be mischief forever.

About the Author

Younus AlGohar is the Representative of the Awaited One Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi and CEO of Messiah Foundation International. He has been recognised as an Ambassador of Peace and Man of Valour. He is an advocate of divine love and interfaith harmony.